■ Fiance
Asia-Europe summit starts
Finance ministers from Asia and Europe yesterday began a two-day meeting, with several visiting officials expected to press China on its currency exchange policy during bilateral talks. Major issues on the agenda of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) finance ministers' meeting include regional and global macroeconomic prospects, the demographic challenges of ageing populations, and economic and financial cooperation between Asia and Europe "in the context of globalization." But in informal bilateral sessions in the northern Chinese city of Tianjin, many visiting officials are expected to focus on China's exchange-rate mechanism. Delegations from 38 nations and the EU are attending the meeting, along with officials from organizations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Asian Development Bank and the European Central Bank.
■ Automakers
China ships Hondas to EU
Japan's Honda Motors has sent a batch of 150 cars from China to Germany, the first-ever shipment of Chinese-made cars to Europe, state media said yesterday. Honda held a ceremony on Friday to send off the exports of its compact Jazz cars, the China Daily said. The Japanese firm said it planned to export 10,000 Jazz hatchbacks to Europe this year. Other destinations include Italy. It currently exports Japanese-made Jazz cars to Europe. Honda is making 1.2-liter and 1.4-liter Jazz models at its joint venture plant in Guangzhou with two Chinese auto firms. "Production costs in China, although a little bit higher than in Japan now, will be lower with growing volume within the next five years. We will take this advantage to export cars from China to Europe," the newspaper quoted Atsuyoshi Hyogo, head of Honda's operations in China, as saying.
■ Entertainment
Asia to see strong growth
The entertainment and media sector in the Asia-Pacific region is likely to be worth more than US$400 billion in four years, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report said yesterday. The region is the world's fastest growing market for entertainment and media, driven by double-digit growth in spending on Internet advertising and access, video games, casino gaming and television distribution, according to PwC. The report expects the industry to grow from US$250 billion last year to US$432 billion in 2009, with a compounded annual growth rate of 11.6 percent. China is expected to lead at an annual 25.2 percent growth, followed by Pakistan at 20.5 percent growth and India at 14.9 percent. Singapore's expected annual growth rate for the entertainment and media industry is 6.5 percent. Portable video games are forecast to drive the video games market, growing at an annual rate of 18 percent to US$23 billion by 2009. The mobile music segment is predicted to total US$8 billion in four years, representing 54 percent of total spending on recorded music.
■ Macroecnomics
Japan's debt hits record high
Japan's government debt for the fiscal year ended March stood at a record high ?781 trillion (US$7,165 billion), according to the Finance Ministry figures. The latest figure showed an increase of ?78.4 trillion, or 11.2 percent, from a year before, the ministry said in a statement released on Friday. The ministry attributed the increase in the national debt to lack of tax revenues amid slow economic recovery. It also blamed increases in social security and other government expenses.
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